Michael Fitzmaurice: Exposes hemp policy roadblocks

Hempcrete that could be submitted to the EPA if it published work the EPA would then have to approach the IPCC to allow us to take credit for that carbon from the hemp that's then locked up in buildings in terms of the inventory so there is a body of work to do but I say there is a research center there a research Ireland funded center which is which is there to develop exactly this type of thing over the last few years like if you went to Enterprise Ireland or you went to Leo or your local enterprise board or any of them and you said oh I'm interested in hemp I'm looking for funding it was no we have nothing to do with it we don't want to even entertain you so something else has gone on in the background so if you went you went actually looking for funding from any of the local enterprises they just said no hemp don't want nothing to do with it so that's a big issue look I think when the big issues here is it is Deputy Fitzmaurice. First of all thanks for coming in a few short questions to the DFM guys. Barry you recognize that there's an opportunity for hemp in the construction sector industrial hemp. Who is the lead department on this? Is it you? Is it climate action? Is the Department of Health? Who is the lead department with policy and in relation to hemp? I suppose when it comes to general crop policy that would be that would be done come on to the Department of Agriculture we have responsibility. But who's the lead department in the overall policy document of hemp overall? When it when it comes to the regulation of hemp because hemp is classed as a schedule one drug it falls under the remit of the Department of Health. So what's happening is it's falling between a few stools would that be agreed? I think from a regulatory point of view the regulation of the actual crop itself that's held but from a general kind of crop policy perspective in terms of trying to develop the crop industry here and the crop sector here that falls to the Department of Agriculture. Right. You said earlier on about a proposal coming to you and that no proposal came to you. What budgets have you for any proposal in relation to that? We don't have any budget. So you have no budget and you're looking for proposals? Well certainly like we have limited I suppose funding mechanisms you know in the department and you know to kind of fund whether it be you know support for decortication units or whatever. But you know we could like there is possibly other mechanisms there across other you know government departments across other agencies and we'd be happy enough to engage with these other departments. But you have no budget for promoting it at the moment? No. Right. There was a guy here last week from Australia I think isn't that right? Who has a business in hemp in other European countries. He's willing to come to Ireland and create employment and basically I've seen the blocks that's made out of it. I've looked at this over a while and that's the market. Right. You're in the Department of Agriculture. What have you done under TAMS to facilitate the machinery for people to be able to grow hemp? What have you done? What gear can you get, a year over it, what gear can you get under TAMS to facilitate the growing of hemp in Ireland? I think that, look there's a lot of... No, no, no, the machinery. I'm talking about machinery. Okay. Under TAMS, I know the list of TAMS. What machinery have you, year over that sector, in the line of putting forward the policy on hemp or trying to bring that forward or other alternatives. What have you done under the TAMS program to get that into it, to get gear, stuff or machinery into it that would help those farmers to make a market? Like there would be a lot of machinery that could be used for the cultivation. No, no, no. I'm talking specifically on hemp. I know the gear you use, so tell me, is that gear in it? Like, you know, when you talk about... Right, I'll ask a simpler question. Is there an opportunity for a person to get a grant for a shed, specifically for getting the machinery into it through TAMS? I'm not sure that is actually, I don't think there is any grants under TAMS for machinery stores, but there would be support for cultivation equipment that would be used and could be used for the cultivation of hemp. Have you a system, and I remember before there was some specialized equipment that there was some department granted could be got if there wasn't that type of stuff in there. Are you willing to look at that avenue in the line of funding for the different machinery that's required? Because the stuff for cutting it, look at, we made turf machines in our day, or people made turf machines because they had to design them themselves. The stuff for cutting it, in my opinion, could be designed to, you do it, you'd gear combines or you'd gear stuff your own way to make, to solve that. It's the gear that's needed for when you bring it into the shed, is that's where you need, be it a bit of dryner, where you need to take off one part from the other, or there's a name on it, I think D-cortisone or whatever is the name, but that gear to make it into a product that you can produce something out of. This is where the roadblock is, but in my opinion there's a roadblock before we even get there, because you can't even get on the plane to take off, because there seems to be some department at the moment, because of what Merton said there in the line, this point three or whatever, that someone thinks that's for industrial hem to work on, putting into blocks, oh well look at this could go on and some fella could be high in it down the road. If we have some blockage like that, we need, if we could get a guidance as a committee to know, do we need to bring in the Department of Justice, and how do we filter this out that there's a specialized license for industrial hemp for the construction industry, to put it simple, if that's the way we want to, or whatever way it's done, that it's specialized for that, but what I worry about is that the few lifts up, would you be willing to look at it, and in actual fact some of the people that were into us in the last week, they have sown the gear, and they have put a huge amount of research and met the Australians and brought them here, would you be willing to meet some of them people, to sit down to see how we can make a pathway in going forward, when people are interested in doing it, and I was amazed with the blocks, I was in the IDN at Lowen with conic fibre, and I was amazed with the blocks that's made out of it, they're fascinating and they're handy, they're not like lifting a concrete block, but they're insulated and all. I was amazed with what you can do, and I was ignorant to the fact of what you can do with it to be quite frank about it, but all the different things, and I'm asking is that, are you willing to sit down with those to work out even a pilot project in a part of the country for year one, to see how we work this, because we have the backing of that guy from Australia, that he's willing to bring us in, 35 jobs he said to us the last day here? Yeah, well go on, we're now up to a minute. As I said before, if there are any viable proposals coming from industry or any viable proposals coming from the individual stakeholders, we are happy to consider those and absolutely we will be happy to meet with any stakeholders who comes forward with viable proposals in order to develop the sector.